Apollos at Corinth
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help to his church as they need, not as they choose; for short-sighted
mortals cannot discern what is for their highest good. It is seldom that
one minister has all the qualifications necessary to perfect any one
church in all the requirements of Christianity; therefore God sends
other ministers to follow him, one after another, each possessing some
qualifications in which the others were deficient.
The church should gratefully accept these servants of Christ, even
as they would accept the Master himself. They should seek to derive
all the benefit possible from the instruction which ministers may give
them from the word of God. But the ministers themselves are not to
be idolized; there should be no religious pets and favorites among
the people; it is the truths they bring which are to be accepted and
appreciated in the meekness of humility.
In the apostles’ day, one party claimed to believe in Christ, yet
refused to give due respect to his ambassadors. They claimed to follow
no human teacher, but to be taught directly from Christ, without the
aid of ministers of the gospel. They were independent in spirit, and
unwilling to submit to the voice of the church. Another party claimed
Paul as their leader, and drew comparisons between him and Peter,
which were unfavorable to the latter. Another declared that Apollos
far exceeded Paul in address, and power of oratory. Another claimed
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Peter as their leader, affirming that he had been most intimate with
Christ when he was upon the earth, while Paul had been a persecutor
of the believers. There was danger that this party spirit would ruin the
Christian church.
Paul and Apollos were in perfect harmony. The latter was disap-
pointed and grieved because of the dissension in the church; he took
no advantage of the preference shown himself, nor did he encourage
it, but hastily left the field of strife. When Paul afterward urged him
to visit Corinth, he declined, and did not again labor there until long
after, when the church had reached a better spiritual state.
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